ITU-T H.264/MPEG-4 part 10 is an international video coding standard, developed by Joint Video Team (JVT) formed from experts of International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). ITU-T H.264/MPEG-4 part 10 is also referred to as MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding). In MPEG-4 AVC, an interlaced video frame can be structured and coded (i.e., encoded) as a single frame picture in frame mode, or as a two separate field pictures in field mode. MPEG-4 AVC allows adaptive switching between frame and field coding mode per frame. MPEG-4 AVC allows high quality video at lower bit rates without a prohibitive increase in the complexity of applying the standard when compared to previous standards.
Multiple programs are known to be encoded using previous standards and sent over a common channel having a fixed limited bandwidth using a technique known as statistical multiplexing, which may be applied to MPEG-4 AVC. Statistical multiplexing is a type of communication link sharing in which a communication channel is divided into an arbitrary number of variable bit-rate (VBR) digital channels or data streams.
Although statistical multiplexing is beneficial for VBR data streams, statistical multiplexing may not account for an effect of buffer overload on encoders used to statistically multiplex communications and decoders used to de-multiplex the communications for an end user.